Virtual assets include:
- Mobile phones
- Desktop, laptop and tablet computers
- Websites and blogs
- Email accounts (Gmail, AOL, Yahoo)
- Online photo storage accounts
- Social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn)
- Online banking and financial accounts
- Online shopping accounts (eBay, Amazon, etc.)
Your virtual assets have value, so it is important to consider them in your estate planning. What do you want to happen to your email account? Do you want to leave your online photoraphs to your family members? These are questions to think about.
A Virtual Asset Instruction Letter (VAIL) is a useful tool to protect your virtual assets. It allows someone else (your spouse, lawyer or designated representative) to access your virtual assets should you become incapacitated or pass away.
Virtual Asset Resources
The Tangled Web We Leave – The Wall Street Journal – February 2013
Estate Planners Start to Account for Clients’ Virtual Assets – Kansas City Business Journal – January 2013
Life and Death Online and Facebook: Who Controls a Digital Legacy? – The Wall Street Journal – January 2013
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